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At a dinner party last night (officially a “Hanukkah party” but
suspiciously held on Christmas Eve), a 26-year-old guy was
talking about how effective online dating has become and, in his
opinion, is dramatically more acceptable to people than it was
just 3-4 years ago. I pointed out that Internet access is nearly
universal in the U.S. (at the very least, a person can use the
Web at the local library), online dating goes back at least to
1995, and yet there are plenty of single people who say that they
want to be married. Ergo, online dating is a failure.

[One obvious flaw in online dating/personal ads is that people
should not be allowed to describe themselves. What difference
does it make what a person thinks of himself if others don't
share that view? That's why I wrote a personal ad for a friend
(see http://philip.greenspun.com/romance/clarissa/ )
a few years ago. The ad worked and she celebrated her first
wedding anniversary last summer.]